The Heart of Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō

2. Bendōwa (Negotiating the Way)

7 TWO Bendôwa 辦道話 (Negotiating the Way) Bendôwa, the second work Dôgen wrote after his return from China, is a treatise on zazen practice as the “right entrance” to the Dharma. A colophon states that it was “written mid-autumn [the fifteen day of the eighth month], the third year of Kangi [1231], by Shamon Dôgen, a Dharma-transmitter who has travelled to China.” Bendôwa seems to have been forgotten, and almost unknown, until it was rediscovered in manuscript in the Edo period. Bendôwa was not originally intended for Shôbôgenzô; it does not appear in any of the early redactions of the work. It was first included in Shôbôgenzô in a manuscript version dated 1684. It was first published, in a single-volume edition, in 1788. Bendôwa is often said to contain within it the essence of all ninety-five fascicles of Shôbôgenzô. It thus serves as an excellent introduction to the work. No doubt because of that, modern editions include it as the first fascicle in the collection. Bendôwa is divided into two sections. In the first, roughly one-fourth of the whole, Dôgen upholds the supremacy of zazen practice vis-à-vis all other Buddhist practices. He gives a concise exposition of the jijuyû samadhi, tells of his pilgrimage in search of the Dharma in Japan and China, and traces the transmission of this samadhi from Shakyamuni Buddha through the Chinese Zen masters of the T’ang and Sung dynasties. The remaining three-quarters of the work is arranged as a series of questions and answers, a popular format in religious treatises of this nature. Dôgen 8 THE HEART OF DÔGEN’S SHÔBÔGENZÔ 1. For Dôgen, who often employs duplicatives, or near-duplicatives, for emphasis, the terms Buddha and Tathagata (“one who has come from suchness,” an epithet used to describe a Buddha) are virtually interchangeable. Free from human agency translates the term mui 無為. Transmitting the wondrous Dharma (tanden 単伝): The Dharma is said to be passed from Buddha to Buddha as water is transferred from one bowl to another. For Dôgen, this is yuibutsu yobutsu 唯 佛与佛 (“only Buddha and Buddha”). Transmission of the Dharma can occur only between one Buddha and another. Throughout SBGZ, the word realize (shô 証) implies realizing (making real), proving, confirming the Dharma in oneself. Supreme and complete awakening translates anoku bodai 阿耨菩提, an abbreviated Chinese rendering of the Sanskrit anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, supreme and perfect enlightenment. Jijuyû samadhi (jijuyû sammai 自受用三昧) signifies a state of samadhi in which an awakened one “receives” (ju) and “employs” (yû) the joy of awakening “in himself ” (ji). (Shakyamuni, following his attainment, is said to have been self-immersed in the joy of enlightenment.) This personal enjoyment (jijuyû) is sometimes distinguished from tajuyû 他受用, which refers to the activity of aiding others (ta) to attain awakening so that they too can experience the joy of awakening. Here Dôgen uses the term jijuyû samadhi in an absolute sense, without distinguishing between it and tajuyû, with jijiyû being the basic source of tajuyû and including tajuyû in its own development. For Dôgen, the jijuyû samadhi is zazen, because zazen is a fundamental practice that includes both selfawakening and the awakening of all beings in the universe. 2. This describes the two aspects of jijuyû samadhi that are essentially inseparable: the aspect of Buddhas who dwell in this samadhi, having no attachment to any sphere of the objective world, and the aspect of all living beings who function in the same samadhi, whose perceptions are not limited by any sphere of the objective world. Here perceptions are not only those of the five senses but include those of the conscious mind as well. uses this format to give and defend his reasons for advocating the merits of zazen, and at the same time he tries to counter such questions and doubts as might arise in the minds of Buddhist acolytes and adherents of other Buddhist schools (Ôkubo, vol. 1, pp. 729–46). BENDÔWA Buddha-tathagatas all have a wonderful means,unexcelled and free from human agency, for transmitting the wondrous Dharma and realizing supreme and complete awakening. That this means is only passed directly from Buddha to Buddha without deviation is due to the jijuyû samadhi, which is its touch-stone.1 To disport oneself freely in this samadhi, the right entrance is proper sitting in zazen. The Dharma is amply present in every...